Dair stood in the dirty kitchen of Reginald Jones, where Emma was currently preparing dinner. The Sandman glared at the lazy, poor excuse of a man sitting at the table. Three days had passed since he’d dealt with Lucifer’s guise as Dr. Michaels and Dair had been by Serenity’s side constantly. She finally kicked him out and asked him to check on Emma. But he only agreed after he’d called Glory and asked her to come keep Serenity company. He didn’t plan to be gone long. He hated being away from her, especially with Lucifer showing such interest. But she’d begged him to find out how Emma was. And after a couple hours of her pouting, he finally gave in. He’d made Glory promise to keep Serenity awake by any means necessary and to keep out any nurses or doctors while he was gone. When she’d asked how, he told her to get creative if she had to. He’d only been gone a few minutes and already he wanted to be back beside her. Instead, he was standing in a poor excuse for house, looking at a poor excuse of a man. Reginald’s hair was matted to his head, and his clothes were stretched and filthy. Mr. Jones looked as though he hadn’t had a bath in a month and probably smelled worse. The old man’s eyes were on the newspaper in front of him. He was struggling to see through eyeglasses, the lenses of which were covered in a year’s worth of grime.

“He expects her to prepare his dinner?” Dair asked Raphael, who was standing in the far corner of the room.

Raphael gave a stiff nod. The angel looked as though he was going to throttle the old man at any moment.

“Does he expect her to just pull something out of thin air?” Dair grumbled as he opened and closed cabinets, not caring if Mr. Jones saw them moving on their own.

“I found some beans,” Emma said, looking at Dair for the first time since he’d arrived. “And there’s a little bit of lunch meat in the fridge. I’ll just throw those in a pot together.”

“This is ridiculous.”

Raphael looked at him. “Why are you acting like this?”

“Like what?” Dair snapped.

“Like a burr crawled up your butt,” Emma added helpfully.

“Yes, what she said,” Raphael agreed.

The minute Raphael asked the question, Dair could feel the anger and frustration building in him. Sure, he was upset about Emma’s circumstances, but he was not known for losing his cool, collected demeanor. He took a deep breath to calm himself. Once he’d gathered his wits about him, he was able to feel the wrongness in the room. There was something malevolent in the air. It wasn’t tangible, and he couldn’t see it. But he could definitely feel it.

“Do you feel that?” Dair asked the angel.

Raphael pushed himself away from the wall and shut his eyes. His form became as still as stone. Dair knew that Raphael was using all of his senses, including the ones that allowed him to see, smell, and feel demons. He waited for the verdict, all the while the uneasiness was growing inside of him.

Emma walked over to where Dair stood. “What’s he doing?” she asked.

“Testing his surroundings.”

“For what?”

“Anything that shouldn’t be here.”

When Raphael’s eyes finally opened, a bright, white light shone from each one. There were no irises or pupils. Only light. Brightness began to grow around his body, as if he was his own sun. Dair had seen the angels reveal their glory before, but it never ceased to amaze him. The power that came directly from the Creator filtered through Raphael’s bodies and cast the shadows and darkness from where he stood. This action was only allowed in the presence of an upper demon.

“Be gone!” Raphael boomed. “Unless you desire to face the tip of my sword, flee this place.”

Dair stepped closer to Emma as she stared wide-eyed at the angel. “Did you know he could do that?” she whispered.

“Yes,” Dair answered. “But he only does it in certain situations.”

Raphael’s light began to fade, and his eyes returned to normal. The scowl, however, remained. “An empath demon was present. He was influencing your mood and reactions,” Raphael said, looking at Dair. “You need to shield yourself better from such attacks.”

“I’ve never had demons target me,” Dair pointed out. “I’ve always been a non-entity to them.”

Raphael frowned and folded his arms across his chest. One hand rose, and his finger tapped his bottom lip. “I’ve often wondered why that was,” he muttered. “You, after all, work closely with the Creator.”

“I have no real power.”

“Actually, you have a lot of power,” Emma said. “The mind is a powerful organ. Thoughts and suggestions can alter a person’s feelings and thereby alter their decisions. You have direct access to people’s minds. That’s sort of a big deal.”

Dair glanced at her and then back to Raphael. “It is a bittersweet day when a child teaches the teacher.”

The angel smiled. “She is clever. I can see why the Creator chose her.”

Emma finished making dinner and placed a bowl of the unappealing-looking stew in front of Mr. Jones. He grumbled something about her cleaning up her mess and then went back to reading while he ate the meal he didn’t even thank her for.

“Do not eat that,” Raphael scolded just before Emma was going to take a bite. “I will get you something of substance.” He looked at Dair and his long-time comrade nodded, assuring the angel he would keep watch over Emma until his return.

“How about we go back to your room,” Dair suggested.

Emma wiped down the counter after putting the pot of stew in the fridge. She glanced one more time at the old man and then followed Dair to her closet. Raphael returned only minutes after they’d shut the door. He handed Emma a bag from a local sandwich shop.

“Thank you,” Emma said as she opened the bag and pulled out a sandwich and chips.

After she took several bites, Raphael turned to Dair, seemingly satisfied that she was eating. “I need to find out why an upper level demon was here.”

Dair nodded. “Lucifer must want her very badly if he is sending out that kind of power. Do you know which one it was?”

“Decspartaiune,” Raphael answered.

“What a strange name,” Emma said as she wiped her hands on her napkin.

“It means Hopeless One. He is a demon lord who commands lesser demons. He wouldn’t normally burden himself with visiting humans. He would usually send a minion. His power is great. The presence of Decspartaiune will cause any negative emotion to be magnified in those in the surrounding area. And then if he is around you long enough, those negative emotions will pull you down into a helpless state of despair. You would feel as though everyone in the world had deserted you. The demon’s influence is powerful, especially on a child.”

“Is that why you turned into a glow worm?” she asked, as her eyes twinkled at him and a big grin stretched across her face.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been compared to a glowworm before,” Raphael grumbled. “But in answer to your question, yes, I revealed my glory because my power is greater than any demon. I have the power of the Creator living within me. It is bestowed upon all of His warrior angels. But like any power given, it has limitations. Only under certain circumstances am I allowed to unveil myself in such a way. The presence of an upper demon necessitates such an action.”

Dair stood suddenly and let out a deep sigh. “Duty calls,” he said, smiling at Emma, attempting to hide his irritation. He wanted to go back to his woman. He looked at Raphael. “I will take care of my charge and then check in on Serenity. Once you’re ready to go hunting for answers, let me know and I’ll take over watch for Emma.” He didn’t want to offer, not because Emma wasn’t important to him—he cared about her—but Serenity was his to care for. Everything in him said he needed to be by her side.

“What of your mate?” Raphael asked.

Dair felt his entire being shift as he thought of his precious Serenity. “I want to be with her, I need to be with her. But I don’t know how to be everything I need to be. She wants me to check on Emma periodically because she’s worried. And we both don’t want to be separated. We both want to protect Emma and figure out why Serenity is having nightmares, but again, I don’t want to leave her.”

“I know you are new to the whole relationship thing,” Emma interrupted. “But mama always said if a man loves a woman, then she is second to only one.” Emma pointed up, indicating heaven and the God she was taught lived there. “You can’t take care of everyone, Dair, that’s not your job. Serenity is and always will be your first priority.”

Dair nodded down at the child. “Such wisdom from one so young. I will heed your words. And do all that I can to make sure my love is taken care of first.”

Dair closed his eyes and let the Creators will lead him to his next assignment. He hoped it wouldn’t take long because he didn’t want to break his word to Serenity. He said he’d be there before she slept, and he would be.

* * *

Two weeks, Darla thought to herself as she locked up the library and headed toward her car. It had been two weeks since they’d talked to the social worker, and still they’d heard nothing on little Emma. Darla’s stomach was in a perpetual state of knots, and she couldn’t find any enjoyment in life. She felt as though everything was on hold. She felt as though even breathing was a gift she should not be allowed while Emma was in the hands of someone who didn’t care for her. How could Darla smile or laugh when she didn’t know if Emma was being hurt or neglected?

She put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking spot. Her eyes were on the rearview mirror as she put it in Drive. She was distracted by the sign of the church across the street from the library. The sign read, ‘Remember we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies but against evil spirits in the heavenly places.’ Ephesians 6:12. Stop fighting each other.’

She’d read that scripture many times but hadn’t really grasped it until that moment. For the first time in her life, she felt that she could understand now what it was saying. She knew they were fighting something dark and sinister, something that wanted to do more than harm them. This evil that seemed to be attacking them wanted to destroy them.

Darla pressed her foot onto the accelerator as she continued to stare at the sign in the mirror. Her eyes jerked back to the road in front of her as she slammed into something, throwing her forward against the steering wheel. She briefly saw a man before he crashed to the ground in front of her car. She gasped as she sat back. Her heart was pounding painfully in her chest, and she hurt where the seatbelt was stretched across her body. Gathering her wits, she undid her belt and climbed quickly from the vehicle. She could only think of checking on the man and calling an ambulance. Her hands were shaking as she moved forward, scared of what she was going to see. Her hand flew to her mouth as she looked at the ground in front of her car. He was gone.

Darla’s head swung from side to side as she tried to see if there was a man running away, but she saw no one. The shaking that had started in her hands was now happening all over. She looked back at the ground, and her mind went back over what had happened. She had definitely hit something, and she would swear she saw a man fall in front of her car. So, where was he? Could he have run off in the brief time she’d taken her eyes off the front of the vehicle when she’d gotten out of the car? Had she really seen a man? She looked around again, and her gaze landed on the church sign again. A chill ran down her spine as the word evil jumped out at her.

A deep feeling of foreboding fell over her, and she felt something urging her to get back in the car immediately. Darla had always been one to listen to her gut, which she really considered to be the influence of God. She believed in prayer and that he was listening. She knew He cared for His creation, and if God was telling her to get back in the car, then she wasn’t about to ignore him.

She slammed the door and hit the locks. The engine was still running, and when she put the car in drive and began to ease forward, there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with it. Without looking back, she drove away from the library, trying to obey the speed limit even though she wanted to get home as quickly as possible. It wouldn’t do her any good to get in a real accident or be pulled over by the police. With that thought, as if she’d conjured it, she saw flashing blue lights in her rearview mirror.

Darla began to pull to the shoulder, thinking the patrol car would pass her. After all, she hadn’t been breaking the law. But the car followed her and parked behind her. She dug through her purse and retrieved her wallet and then opened the glove box and pulled out her proof of insurance. This wasn’t her first rodeo. She’d been pulled over many times, mostly when she was younger and tended to have a lead foot.

The officer knocked on her window, and she lowered it. Darla took a deep breath before looking up at the officer with a smile plastered on her face. When her eyes met his, she had to stop herself from gasping and jerking back. The officer’s eyes were dead. She didn’t know how else to describe them. They were black as pitch and the pupils were large, almost covering up the whites of his eyes completely. His gaze was cold and lifeless.

“Hello, Officer,” she said, her voice trembling despite her resolve to sound as normal as possible.

“This is a random stop,” he said without returning her greeting. “We are looking for anyone who might be under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances.”

“Oh, well, I…” she began and pressed a nervous hand to her chest. “I haven’t been drinking. I just left work.”

He watched her with those unblinking, dark eyes. She imagined this was how bunnies felt when facing down a fox. Darla wanted to look away but was scared to take her eyes off the man for even a second.

“You need to be careful out here,” he said. “You never know who might be on the road, or what influences they might be under.”

Perhaps the words were meant to come across as if he cared about her safety, but the tone of his voice made the statement sound like a threat. Something cold began wrapping around her like a snake coiling tightly against her body, clamping down and crushing her. Darla coughed and forced herself to look away from the officer. “Thank you for your concern. May I be on my way? I need to get home. My husband will be excepting me.”

His hand came down on her door, landing in the open window space. His fingers turned white as his grip tightened. He said nothing; he only stared at her. Darla was beginning to fear that he wouldn’t let her go, but after several moments of intense glaring, he finally took a step back. He released her door and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You can go. I’ll see you again, Darla.”

She looked at him warily.

All of a sudden, he spoke again, and his voice had changed. It was rougher, almost guttural. “You cannot hide, and you will not prevail,” the voice said.

Then, in the blink of an eye, faster than she would have thought possible, he was back in his own car. She watched as he pulled back onto the road and drove slowly past her, his dead eyes staring directly at her as he passed. In a moment of clarity, Darla grabbed her phone and snapped a picture of the back of the police car.

Darla’s hands shook as she returned her wallet to her purse and proof of insurance back to the glove compartment. She had to pull herself together before she continued to drive home. Once back on the road, she began to think about the strange, and admittedly terrifying, events of the evening. How does a man disappear after being hit by a car? Unless he wasn’t really a man. And that police officer, she’d never seen him before. Yellville was not a big town, and though she might not know every single person in it, she knew quite a few of the officials because of her work at the library. Her children’s group had done tours of the police station in the past, and Darla could not ever remember seeing that man at the station. She glanced over at her phone that lay on the console and thought about the picture she’d taken. At least she would be able to clear up part of her mysterious evening. She’d just call the station and give them the police car number and find out who he was.

As she pushed the door open and stepped into her house, the smell of food assaulted her. Wayne was standing in the kitchen with several containers of food, leftovers from the night before.

“I heated us up dinner,” he told her and gave her a smile. “How was your day?”

Darla set her purse down on the counter and walked over to one of the containers that held mashed potatoes. She snatched up the spoon and stuffed a large bite in her mouth. The buttery flavor flooded her taste buds. It was comfort food, good ol’ Southern comfort food and just that one warm bite seemed to chase away some of the cold that had filled her insides.

“It was a normal day until this evening,” she said.

“What happened this evening?” Wayne asked as he began to make them plates of food.

Darla thought about it again. Both encounters had one thing in common: the presence of evil had been overwhelming. “I’m not exactly sure, but if I had to guess, I’d say the devil has come to Yellville.”